U.S. court orders banks to hand over Sudan funds to USS Cole’s families

September 23, 2015 (WASHINGTON) – A U.S. appeals court ordered three international banks to hand over frozen Sudanese government funds to victims of al Qaeda attack on USS Cole in Yemen to satisfy a nearly $315 million judgement.

The decision comes after a US federal court in Washington in 2012 ordered Sudan to pay $314.7 million to the families of the 15 sailors killed in an attack carried out by two Yemeni militants in October 2000. In March 2007 a federal court in Virginia ruled that Sudan should be held accountable for the bombing.

The amount of money held in the accounts is redacted from court filings.

On Wednesday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rejected Sudan’s claim that the plaintiffs failed to follow proper procedures in seeking the assets, which are held in accounts controlled by Mashreq bank PSC, BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.

Seeking to collect some of the money, the plaintiffs secured orders from U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in New York requiring the banks to turn over certain assets they held for Khartoum government which is under U.S. sanctions since 1997.

Sudan has some 68.2 million dollars worth of assets that US officials have frozen due to its alleged links to terrorism.

The families’ lawsuit alleged that Sudan provided financial and training support to members of the Al-Qaeda terror network.

According to Reuters, two of the three banks, Dubai based Mashreqbank and Paris based Credit Agricole, confirmed they had handed over the money since two years. The BNP Paribas refused to comment.

In its appeal the Sudanese government argued that the original lawsuit was not properly served on its foreign minister and said the lower court failed to follow the appropriate steps in issuing the turnover orders.

However, the appeals court rejected both arguments.

(ST)